Former CIA Ally Faces Charges
Of Smuggling Drugs Into U.S.

By

Jose De Cordoba Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Nov. 22, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A Miami grand jury indicted the former head of a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored Venezuelan antidrug unit on charges he smuggled cocaine into the U.S., in a case that is likely to again raise questions about the CIA's role in drug enforcement.

U.S. officials said Gen. Ramon Guillen was charged in a sealed indictment with conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. during a period in which he headed a special CIA-financed Venezuelan National Guard antinarcotics group. Law-enforcement officials...